"I especially want to suggest that we impoverish ourselves spiritually when we close ourselves off too quickly from the witnesses with whom we disagree, or when, to appropriate their words for our own beliefs, we translate or transpose what they say into the worlds and ideas with which we are already comfortable." - Paul Lacey, 1995

The first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy. - Corrie Ten Boom
We have met the enemy and he is us, - Pogo

Every time you meet a situation, though you think at the time it is an impossibility and you go through the tortures of the damned, once you have met it and lived through it, you find that forever after you are freer than you were before. - Eleanor Roosevelt

The first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy. - Corrie Ten Boom
We have met the enemy and he is us, - Pogo

What all girls wish: to have a husband, house and children.
Now that I'm old, my wish is womanish: That the boy putting groceries
in my car see me....it bewilders me that he doesn't see me.
Judith Viorst

Irene, in my case, I only seem to be as happy as my least happy child. If they are struggling with something in their lives, I end up commiserating with them which tends to bring me down a notch or two...[/quote Understood.....

God’s heart is “the heart of a Father Who loves all His children and wants them to live in goodness and justice, and therefore to live in fullness and happiness. A Father’s heart that goes beyond our meagre concept of justice so as to open up to us the immense horizons of His mercy. A Father’s heart that does not treat us or repay us according to our sins, as the Psalm says”. (Pope Francis)

“For children are innocent and love justice, while most of us are wicked and naturally prefer mercy.”(G.K. Chesterton)

The first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy. - Corrie Ten Boom
We have met the enemy and he is us, - Pogo

Work is sacred. It is not just a way to earn money or gain power, though it may result in both. Work is a vehicle for testing out our gifts and talents and using them to explore their meaning. - Anne Wilson Schaef

The first step on the way to victory is to recognize the enemy. - Corrie Ten Boom
We have met the enemy and he is us, - Pogo

"Wherever is found what is called a paternal government, there is found state education. It has been discovered that the best way to insure implicit obedience is to commence tyranny in the nursery." ~Benjamin Disraeli

“I am convinced that knowledge is power - to overcome the past, to change our own situations, to fight new obstacles, to make better decisions.” ~Ben Carson

It Couldn’t Be Done
By Edgar Albert Guest
Somebody said that it couldn’t be done
But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it!

Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it;”
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat
And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure,
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.